·Morning
Worship at 9.00 and 10.30 a.m. with coffee hour after the 10.30 service.
Services will be led by Lloyd Thompson, and our guest speaker will be Mary Ann
Provencal from World Vision, who will give us an update on the Darfur Education
project.

·Tim
Chesterton will be on
holiday Sept. 2nd-23rd. Please remember Tim and Marci in
your prayers as they go to the UK to spend time with Tim’s recently widowed
mother.

If you need a priest because of a
pastoral emergency during Tim’s holidays, please call the Rev. Susan Ormsbee or the Rev. Kevin
Kraglund at St. Matthias’ (780-487-0324).

LOOKING
AHEAD

Back
to Church Sunday: Sunday September 29th. Theme: JOURNEYS OF FAITH

Back to Church Sunday is an opportunity
to invite someone who does not normally attend church to come to church with
you and experience the difference the Gospel of Jesus Christ can make to a
community of people!

·Ask yourself:
‘Why am I excited about being a Christian and being a part of the St.
Margaret’s Church family?’

·Ask God:
‘In my circle of family/friends/work colleagues etc., who would you like me to
invite to church on Back to Church Sunday?’

·Ask your
friend: ‘Would you like to come to church with me on September 29th?’

Note that at both services on Back to
Church Sunday, Catherine Ripley will be interviewing Tim and Marci Chesterton
about their respective faith stories.

Confirmation

Bishop Jane will be coming to St.
Margaret’s in mid-January to hold a service of confirmation. Confirmation
classes will begin very shortly after Tim returns from holidays on Sept. 24th,
and will likely last through October, November, and December.

What is Confirmation? In our Anglican tradition, we usually
baptize people while they are still infants; their parents and godparents speak
for them, making the baptismal promises and committing themselves to raise
their children to learn to follow Jesus for themselves.

Confirmation is a mature commitment to
Christ, made when a person who has been previously baptized is ready and
willing to take the promises on themselves and say publicly before their church
family and the Bishop “I want to follow Jesus”. At a confirmation service the
candidates make their promises, and the Bishop then prays for them and lays
hands on them, asking God to strengthen them with the Holy Spirit for a life of
discipleship.

Confirmation does not usually happen
before a person is in their teens. Teenagers and adults who have been baptized
but not confirmed are welcome to present themselves for confirmation. Please
note that it is not appropriate for parents to put pressure on their children
about confirmation; the whole point of it is that this is a free decision made
by the candidates themselves to commit themselves to following Christ as part
of his Church.

If anyone in the parish would like to be
confirmed in January, would they please contact Tim immediately (stmrector@gmail.com
or 780-437-7231) to indicate this.

Sunday
Oct. 13th: Thanksgiving Sunday. As is our custom, we will collect non-perishable items for
the Food Bank on this day. Note that the special offering envelopes on Oct. 13th
will go toward our World Vision project, helping to build schools in the Darfur
region of the Sudan.

Sunday
Oct. 20th 12.00 noon: Fall Congregational Meeting. The Building Extension Project will be
the main item on the agenda of this meeting. More information upcoming soon.

Sunday
Nov. 3rd (All Saints’): Baptisms at the 10.30 service. Those wishing to be baptized or to have
children baptized should talk to Tim immediately as preparation will be
necessary. Note that at St. Margaret’s it is not our custom to baptize people
who are not in the habit of church attendance, as this is one of the
commitments made in the baptismal promises.

BEYOND
OUR PARISH

Diocese
of Edmonton 100th Anniversary. There are a number of exciting events
coming up in October, including an Anglican homebrew competition (!), a visit
from ‘The Common Cup’ (a Canadian Anglican musical group), and, in mid-October,
a ten-day visit from Dr. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. To learn more,
please go to the Diocesan website and follow the links to the Centennial
celebrations:

Faith
Corner:
Bishop Jane invites you to share why your faith and church matter to you.
Contact the Synod Office anytime over the year and they will be happy to set up
a conversation time. They will share some of your stories on the centennial
website:

Many thanks to all the people who sent
emails, cards, or Facebook messages of support on my father’s death on August
12th. As it happened it was a difficult week for my family, as my
Dad’s oldest brother John died of cancer three days later. Your love and
support mean a great deal to us in this time of sadness; thank you from the bottom
of my heart.

Meanwhile, back here at St. Margaret’s, we’ve
unfortunately had to put ‘Sundays@4’ on hold for the foreseeable future. This
is entirely because of a volunteer shortage at our church, especially in the
area of musicians and Sunday School teachers. I know everyone is busy and the
call to spend more of your valuable time away from home doesn’t always sound
like good news! Nonetheless, it is impossible for us to function without people
who offer themselves for various ministries in the service of Christ. We particularly need Sunday School
teachers and musicians; we have lost several of each recently. Please
talk to me immediately if you can help.

Meanwhile, let’s keep growing in Christ,
experiencing his joy and love, and sharing it with others.